Are Computers, Smartphones, and the Internet a Boon or a Barrier for the Weaker Reader?

If boys are spending nine hours a day media multitasking and prefer computers to books, shouldn't they be successful at online learning? Yet, it is not so simple. Online learning requires online reading, which means that boys, who are significantly poorer readers than girls in every nation in the world, may well be struggling to keep up. Text‐to‐speech software and many other online tools would seem to offer personalized support for weaker readers, but there is growing evidence that even with multimedia texts, the sheer volume of curricular material can be too great. Add to this the fact that an online student may not have access to the learning that can come from group interaction, nor to the social and emotional support that can come from peers or a teacher, and the online reader could be heading for a learning apocalypse.